NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report 1 August 2005

Mission: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Launch Vehicle: Lockheed Martin Atlas V 401
Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Launch Date: August 10, 2005
Launch Window: 7:54 – 9:39 a.m. EDT

The MRO spacecraft has been mated with the Atlas V for the last phase of launch preparations. This will be the first government civil launch of an Atlas V. The launch vehicle will perform an Integrated Systems Test (IST) later today to verify electrical compatibility. The final stages of the launch campaign begin with the Flight Readiness Review on Aug. 4, and the Launch Readiness Review is Aug. 8.

Mission: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder
Satellite Observation and CloudSat (CALIPSO/CloudSat)
Launch Vehicle: Boeing Delta II 7420 DPAF
Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC2), Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), Calif.
Launch Date: September 29, 2005

The CloudSat team returns to VAFB later today to begin battery reconditioning. The CALIPSO team returns to VAFB August 8 for launch processing.